One of the challenges faced when printing on media is how to adequately control the shape of the sheet during and after printing. This becomes more challenging when the printing is done with volatile inks using carrier fluids such as water or alcohol. When the ink and carrier is deposited on the paper, the carrier is absorbed into the sheet causing the fibers in the sheet to expand (grow) causing cockle. This cockle growth changes the distance between the media and the pen in localized regions and can cause dot placement errors (image quality issues). If the cockle formation can be understood, manipulated, and controlled, the writing system can compensate for the dot placement error (sheet height variation) and maintain optimum image quality levels.